A recent news report revealed that a large Denial of Service or DDoS attack had repercussions on Spamhaus, which is a group that promotes anti-spam activities on the Internet. Since news of the attack, there have been many reports of disruptions in service throughout the world wide web throughout the last month and there may be more.
Spamhaus is known for keeping email free from spam, particularly spam that relates to weight-loss products and other medicinal products that are purportedly fake. Some of the false advertisements that Spamhaus works on keeping out of email inboxes include Viagra pills that target men and Cialis or other enhancement supplements for men. The organization says it is being targeted by DDoS from several groups that are very upset about having been targeted by the anti-spam agency, particularly as they have now been blacklisted.
Spamhaus says they nearly had to go offline, because DDoS attacks can cause web servers to become overburdened with web traffic, so much to the point where staying online becomes nearly impossible. Security experts suggest that attacks can happen suddenly and overwhelmingly in a matter of seconds and minutes.
Cyber attacks in the news are not uncommon, with several major companies and organizations having reported being under attack and making headlines recently, including recent attacks that caused power outages at major U.S. companies. This recent attack was considered one of the largest attacks yet. Spamhaus believes that it may have come from some Russian providers that were unhappy to have been placed on the Spamhaus blacklist for spamming customers with unwanted emails.
This however, is still an unverified report, yet there are some that suggest the organization simply blocked certain content and blacklisted companies the organization did not like or agree with. Spamhaus continues to contend that they are committed to providing an internet that is safe and free from spam and that it is their duty to protect email and internet users from junk that often finds its way through email.
Often attacks find a way into a server through a weakness, allowing access into a system and then as they make there way, can cause havoc. There are a number of ways a company can protect its network and services however. These include proxy servers and firewalls. The best paid proxy service is a great tool for protecting your own computers from malware and attacks. Even the best systems however, sometimes are not foolproof.
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